Mark Leiser

Personal Details

Mark Leiser is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Leicester, joining the Law School on 1 September 2017.

I hold a BSc in Communications and Media Studies, an LLB (Hons) from the University of Strathclyde and am a PhD Candidate in writing up at the University of Strathclyde; I am a Fellow Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I joined Leicester from the University of Strathclyde where as a Teaching Fellow until 31 August, I lectured Internet Law, Intellectual Property, Company and Commercial Law on the undergraduate programme and Internet Governance, Intellectual Property (DL) on the LLM. I also contributed to the Digtial Rights, Crime & Security and e-Commerce modules on the PGT modules. I also taught Cyberlaw at LSE on their summer school programme for the past two years and contributed to their Digital Rights (LLM) and Cyberlaw modules. I have also taught at SciencesPo in Paris. For my teaching efforts, my students nominated me for a Teaching Excellence Award in 2016-17.

I wrote submissions for the Leveson Inquiry on the prevalence of phone hacking in Scotland and submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Media and Sport on ‘fake news’. I have presented to the Advocate General’s office in Scotland on the topic, perils and opportunities of social media. While undertaking my PhD, I wrote the acclaimed "Tech Law" column at the Drum Magazine, and have appeared on various media programmes discussing various Cyberlaw issues. In addition to serving on the Scottish Advisory Board of the Open Rights Group, I am a member of the Non-Commercial constituency at Internet Corporation for Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN). the Society of Legal Scholars, and the Association of Legal Teachers.

Research Interests

My research focuses on implementing insights from the cognitive sciences and social psychology in order to develop more effective regulation of the online environment. I have recently focussed my efforts on digitally mediated platforms and their role in facilitating deceit (AstroTurfing, Fake News, etc.), how they undermine trust in commercial transactions and democratic discourse. For example, I have used our reliance on heuristics and the systematic errors and biases that exist as a by-product to question rationally-based models of regulation (Lessig, Murray, et al). My publications draw on research from the fields of cognitive and social psychology, as well as the a variety of deception literature and regulatory theory. Nevertheless, heuristics are only one influence on our decision-making and I anticipate my research developing in line with other influences (emotions, neural science etc.) that impact the way our brains interact with technology. For my research efforts, I won the BILETA award for Best Paper in 2014 and again in 2017.

Current Teaching

Although a regulatory theorist at heart, I presently tutor and contribute to the lecturing of Commercial Law, but hopefully will introduce a Cyberlaw course in the next academic term.

Publications and Awards

Winner, Best Paper, BILETA 2017 – “Fake News: A regulatory solution”.

Winner, Best Paper, BILETA 2015 – “The Problem with Dots: Questioning the role of rationality in the online environment”

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Leiser, Mark. "The problem with ‘dots’: questioning the role of rationality in the online environment." International Review of Law, Computers & Technology (2016): 1-20.

Leiser, Mark: “Your brain is being hacked!” Power and Resistance: Theory and Imaginative Activism, Queen Mary University of London, June 2014.

Workshops

Privacy by Design Workshop: “Privacy by Design beyond the screen: (how) is it possible?”

University of Leiden, April/May 2017

“Intermediary Liability in Times of Political Uncertainty”, London School of Economics, 18 May 2017.

Journals

Editorial assistant for “Political Constitutions”, 2013 special edition of the German Law Journal

Editor, the Firm Magazine, June 2013 – Present

Online Articles

Leiser, Mark, “Fact, fiction and fake news—the impact on social media”, 27/04/2017, LexisNexis, Available at https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/tmt/document/412012/5NDH-J1J1-DYW7-W172-00000-00/Fact__fiction_and_fake_news_the_impact_on_social_media

Leiser, Mark, “Cybersecurity: What the Panama Papers can teach all law firms”, The Law Society, 02 February 2017, Available at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/blog/cybersecurity-what-the-panama-papers-can-teach-all-law-firms/